fall festival (alternatively titled THAT mom)

cinderella's halloween parade at school
the parade went around this little hay bale island...lu was lapping the other kids for reasons unknown

sweet girl waiting in line

i really think he was trying to wave!


g was feelin the spirit so he wore his tiger outfit

playing games with mrs. potts!


she doesn't look all that well, does she. she keeps saying, "i'm sorry i can't smell. i'm sorry i can't breathe." :(

i was totally THAT mom this morning. the mom whose kid is OBVIOUSLY sick & should be quarantined at home. but it was the halloween fall festival at school...and halloween is the girl's FAVORITE holiday. she has literally been looking forward to it since we got home from trick-or-treating last year. one hearty family of bugs has taken up residence in our home for the last 3-4 weeks...leading to sinus infections in now 2 of the 4 of us - the lu's first...diagnosed today after school.

she's had a bad cough for a couple of weeks now. it seemed very benign until about wednesday. i figured all the kids in her class must be sick...till we got there this morning & realized our precious pea was the only one hacking up a lung, rubbing snot all over her face...i felt all the other moms looking at her...and then at clay & me...

so i stepped out and made an appointment with our pedi. cause i want her to enjoy halloween on sunday.

and then it got worse. a big frosted cookie was followed by a craft that turned an oreo into a spider. washed down with a sugary juice box. and then the crazy coughing started. and i knew it was going to happen. and then it did. she had her hand over her mouth, and coughed, and then stopped coughing but kept her hand over her mouth...and then black oreo goo started oozing out from between her fingers. and then the hand came off & the vomit came out. all over her scratchy cinderella dress (as she calls it...apparently it is scratchy on the inside so she wears clothes underneath it).

luckily i was right next to her & was able to keep it all in a nice puddle on her gown. and one of the moms (who i am friendly with) said, "i guess you're done, huh!". she looked relieved that we'd be leaving. i can't fault her; i'd have done the same thing if i had been on the other side.

and then one of the teachers announces it is time to play games & then trick-or-treat up & down the halls. awesome timing. how can you make a three year old leave before all of the fun starts?!?!?

so she recovered. we washed up. and stayed through trick-or-treating a half an hour later (notice no costume during game time). and then we promptly went to the doctor.

pedi says the meds should kick in before 5p on sunday when we meet our friends at the park for trick-or-treating. it's only her second time on antibiotics...the first time we discovered she was allergic to penicillin. hopefully we have better luck this time.

and hopefully the other moms forgive me.

pumpkin carving

i bought a pumpkin carving kit this year...clay poo-poo'd it until he figured out he could make this....

cool, huh?

camping, the foreward

according to clay, the following scene unfolded this morning when he dropped luci off at school....

lu: hi allie! we are going camping!
allie: yeah camping! we are going camping!
lu: yeah camping!
allie: camping!
lu: i like your shirt!
allie: it matches my shirt! we are going camping!
lu: camping!
and then 3 year old girl shrieking, giggling & jumping up & down commenced...

the lu & her dad are up at huntsville state park for her first-ever camping trip. while camping is not usually my thing, i do feel like i'm missing out. yet since camping is dad's thing, at the same time it feels very appropriate that it be a special daddy/daughter event. they headed up after school today, caravan-ing with our friends the turns family who were kind enough to include us the fall camping trip they do with a bunch of their neighbors. when we picked the girls up after school one of the teacher's aides asked if the girls were going tent camping because they had been talking about it all day. too cute.

they've been gone now less than 3 hours & i miss them! i feel like 2/3 of my heart is missing! luckily i have my guster goo to keep me busy. we'd have gone, but g puts EVERYTHING in his mouth & REFUSES to sit still so we'll go next time - hopefully he'll be walking by then. tonight i'm going out for sushi with a friend that i haven't seen in a long time, so that'll make tonight go by quickly. and i'm sure they'll be home tomorrow before i know it....right?!?!?

sweet friends

wally, clara & lu...having some snack on the steps...in front of our ghetto-fabulous baby gate. cause thatz how we roll...

wordless wednesday

g...@ 9 months

Notes at 9 months...

-he's pretty much officially weaned in the last week. i may have one more session of milk in me, but that is probably about it. a bittersweet milestone for this mama.

-said weaning has lead to 16 days of diarrhea. per his pedi we are switching to a soy-based formula. i'd probably have made a different decision about weaning had i known the massive amount of poop i was going to be in for. the good news is that g doesn't really seem to be bothered in the least by his frequent bowel movements.

-he's pulling up on furniture and has started to climb...up the bottom stair, onto the trampoline, onto the little shelf under our living room end tables...

-i am sleeping through the night...i'm not sure if he is. i turn my fan up on high (so it is loud) and close my bedroom door and i sleep through the night. and when he wakes up now in the AM he isn't screaming. he's usually happy. so i'm thinking it was time for BOTH of us to start sleeping through the night.

-he can't get enough to eat. eats a whole jar of baby food eagerly with every meal. plus finger foods. he loves him some lil muncher/cruncher puffs. to the point that if he sees the container out on the table he won't eat anything else. and if i take it away he puts his head down & sobs. sad baby.

-he LOVES his big sister and wants whatever she has.

-he wants more face time with the cat, mr. milo.

-the weaning has helped him bond with Dad...now there are two parents with the goods and whoever is holding the bottle is the favorite of the moment ;)

-he's a squealin fool. i do think he knows mamam because when he really wants me he'll say mamam. but he doesn't do it very often.

-we play the 'eh' game. he says 'eh' and waits for me to say it back. as soon as i do he comes right back with 'eh'...and so it goes.

- we just moved on to size 4 huggies. still in 12-18 month onesies and 12 mo separates.

-now that the weather has finally cooled a bit we get to go outside & play. he doesn't love to wear shoes, but he does love to be pushed in his little red car & on the swing. he doesn't think much of the slide yet.

-he sleeps in sleep sack with his paci.

-he likes to snuggle with his mama in a way his sister never did. i'll be honest, as much as i love sleeping through the night, i miss those late night sweet, sweet snuggles.

it's bittersweet i tell ya, watchin these babies grow up...

trampoline danger

gus gus can now climb....let the danger fun begin!!



no babies were harmed in the making of these photos ;)

my girl.

halloween cookies...round 1 of many, i'm sure.

she started to fade after decorating the first sheet of cookies.

i'll be honest...after i caught her eating spoons full of sprinkles i was relieved to have some less sugar coated sugar cookies!

my boy.

his daddy wants to cut that precious hair over his ears.

i just can't let him do it yet.

i know i'm biased, but could he be any cuter? as the lu would say, "i want to EAT yourself!" translation? we think it is her interpretation of one of my favorite phrases (you're so cute...i just want to eat you up...which is usually followed by lots of kisses).

strange interpretation, i know. it cracks clay & me up every time.

behind, again

my goo is officially 9 months old. got lots of great photos to post of him and some notes, but not enough energy tonight to tackle said post.

so, just wanted to say all is well. kitchen brainstorming/looking for items/shopping has been consuming me. i've purchased 10 used kitchen chairs in the last week. for a combined $110 ;) i love them all, but both sets need work. it seems everything needs work! and of course i have the 6 old chairs to sell....

i'm busy making pelmet boxes for the kitchen windows with this fabric. got one done tonight, but not hung yet (that is a job for the man ;). last night i put these cabinet knobs up. power tools don't scare me...although maybe the possibility of ruining our cabinet doors should have! i still have the island hardware & all drawers to finish because i'm thinking i'll mix up the hardware for those items. and of course i still have a laundry list of other things i'd like to get accomplished...yesterday!

[ ]

trying super hard to pick myself up by the bootstraps these days. clay has been gone a lot. like a lot, a lot. like 12 of the last 16 days. and it'll be 16 of the last 20 before he's finally home again. for 2 days. before he leaves again for 3. and then so on & so on & so on.


not sure why it feels like he's gone so much more. maybe because he is? maybe because luci is old enough to really understand he's not here & feel his absence? she is very emotional when he's gone. and when he's home (who am i kidding?) maybe she picks up on my stress? maybe it is her own stress? maybe a combo? she sobs for him. literally sobs. then he gets home & all she wants is mommy. which hurts his feelings. and frustrates us both. and then just when she finally warms up to him again it's time for him to go.


the week started out rough. kitchen renovation contractors showed up at 8:30a on sunday with a solo (at least, solo + kids) me not feeling well. no body seemed to know what they were doing. finally by tuesday the kitchen was at least put back together.


gus has been teething all week, up every 2 hours at night. diarrhea every diaper. thought it was just the teething. till last night. when lulu was up every 2 hours with diarrhea. so both had diarrhea today. and then lu vomited all over the dinner table, gus & me tonight. like out her nose vomit. then she had more diarrhea in her diaper while i was reading her a bedtime story (she still wears diapers to bed). after the diaper had been changed i went to put it in the diaper genie. runny poop flew across the room. onto the dresser, carpet, inside the diaper genie...but not on the plastic throw away part, of course. meanwhile gus was screaming his head off next door.

so after the poop was cleaned up i went to quiet the screaming head. i tried with all of my might to just relish in that sweet, cool chubby cheek next to mine.

we had a family health scare this week. found out yesterday that all is well...don't worry. while i was rocking with that chubby, wet cheek next to mine i started to think about my parents. cleaning up after me all those years. wondering if they know how much i love them. if they know how much it breaks my heart that my kiddos don't get to spend much time with them. how very much i wish my whole family could live in the same town. and then i wondered why i don't say such things more often. and why it seems easier to say on my blog than over the phone or in person. seems wrong. but better said here than left unsaid, right?

so i love you mom & dad. and i love you dear husband. here or not here. and of course i love my kids too...screaming, poop, vomit, & all.

wordless wednesday

the haps (part 2)

well the kitchen update that was planned (at least, by us) for today has been pushed back. there was a miscommunication & now the granite will be installed on sunday (cause of the mistake). and backsplash on monday. and faucet & dishwasher & disposal on tuesday. whatever. it is what it is.

3. the gym. oh...the new gym, how i love thee. mama is a MUCH better mama when she gets some alone time during the day...with music from the 'dance & dj' genre (per itunes) blaring in her headphones at a volume that is most certainly not healthy. sweating a bit. actually, who are we kidding...sweating a lot. i have such a flat learning curve...why have i not been working out for the last 4 years? i've worked out most of my life...why did i ever stop? i feel SO much better...physically, mentally, emotionally. it's good. and gusgus is doing better at childcare - he usually cries during the hand off but i haven't been paged to return before i'm ready in over a week. he's got a few of the ladies wrapped around his finger & they seem to adore him. duh, who wouldn't ;) he even naps there if he's tired! and the lu? she loves it. usually doesn't want to leave when it is time to go. she "climbs, cooks bacon, and makes things in art".

4. this is a big one. i think i'm ready to wean gus. i started doing one bottle of formula a day (he gets it at the gym...convenient, right?) a few weeks ago, and now i'm up to two. next week i'll go to nursing him just once a day. and then however many times he eats a night. right now it's two times but i'm not making my almost 9 month old bottles in the middle of the night. he's old enough to get what he needs during the day so he'll just have to change his habits when when the mama milk runs out. i'd always planned that i'd nurse him for a full year, but i'm finding i have a huge need to own my body right now...and i didn't anticipate that. i think it's the working out. he's had it for 18 months, so i'm trying not to feel too selfish about wanting it back. one of my favorite motherhood phrases is what's good for mama is good for baby...so i'm just going to keep going with what feels right. and what feels right at the moment is taking control back and owning this nearly unrecognizable body.

5. the lu is rockin school these days. sure she often says she doesn't want to go (but she never wants to go anywhere), but yesterday she actually told me she wanted to go to school or to the gym. apparently i wasn't as entertaining as usual ;) her goofball sense of humor is in full force these days as she picks up things from other kids. it is weird to have her being influenced by things outside our home. singing songs i don't know, saying things i didn't teach her...it is very strange for me...yet somehow i know the time is right for her to gain some independence. but strange, nonetheless. we've thrown a LOT of change at her in a pretty short time, and she's done really well it. i'm very proud of my pea.

6. i realized the other day i've finally gotten used to having two kids. i actually waited to pick up luci from school to go grocery shopping with both of them rather than go with just gus. we are at some strange point (maybe with gus having more mobility?) where having them both out somewhere is actually easier than being at home. at home gusgus follows the lu around while she taunts (sometimes intentionally, sometimes not) him with things that he can't play with. either because he'd choke or because she doesn't want him to 'mess it all up'. and to say she's usually a bit too rough with him would be an understatement. i need to figure out a new tactic to deal with the too rough behavior because what i'm doing isn't working. suggestions?

i think that's about it. overall i'm pretty happy with our new 'busier' schedule. and i'm super glad the carroon drama is over. and will be even happier when the kitchen is done! stay tuned for some before & after photos!

things the lu says

the lu says the funniest things these days. i think she's picking up bits & pieces from friends at school.

lu: i'm gonna SMACK your footie!
me: you are gonna smack me?
lu (laughing): yes, i wanna SMACK you!

me: how about pasta for lunch today?
lu: no thank you. i'm not hungry. maybe after dinner.

lu: i want to scratch your feelings!
me: you want to scratch my feelings?
lu (laughing): yes. they have BARF ALL OVER THEM!!!

and this one is probably tmi, but it made me laugh so hard i have to record it...
me: my tummy hurts. i have to go potty...get those poops out of my tummy.
lu (with the most concerned, disturbed look ever): MOM...you ATE your POOPS?!?!?!?!?

the haps (part 1)

life has been dictated by some significant happenings lately. this is part 1 of a 2 part post. cause i should be working right now...

1. the kitchen update.
our kitchen is 12 years old and it's starting to really show its age. since we'll (hopefully) be selling in less than 2 years we knew we'd need to do something before then...cause grout is falling out of the ceramic tiles that make up the counter and our faucet is about ready to blow. like clay showed me how to turn off the water source ready to blow. the electric COIL cook top only has 3 burners that work...and our dishwasher is so loud it sounds like the el is running through our kitchen. have i convinced you we need an update/upgrade yet?

well we convinced ourselves...but given our struggles with design choices in the past, we decided to hire a designer. fancy, right? um, turns out not so much. 3 weeks + $600 later they presented their design in about 10 minutes. they picked the same granite we had in chicago (that we picked out by ourselves), and some seemingly random photos of a sink, dishwasher, cook top, faucet & drawer/cabinet hardware. and an awesome stacked glossy glass tile back splash...which i had asked for. the problem? we gave them a budget and they came in 68% over. um, yeah.

so we called our realtor to confirm that updating to granite is something we really need to do. she says yes, yes it is. apparently people expect granite in this market. she also gives me the names of some other folks...who come out & tell us they can give us pretty much the same thing for about 20% over our original budget. done. the biggest value? new dude tells me glass tile is RIDICULOUSLY hard to keep clean...that water spots are bonkers bad unless you are constantly wiping & cleaning it.

seriously fancy designer ladies? did you not see the state of my house when you came over? did you not see my two small children? cause you certainly did NOT think to mention that maintenance of glass tile is NOT very functional. what a let down! but, in the end we picked out some different granite that we liked, described a backsplash look we wanted and we think we'll be happy. we picked out a new cook top & dishwasher, and in a few weeks we should have an updated kitchen!! the designer folks said our kitchen would be out of commission for 3 weeks. this new guy said 2 days. now that's what i'm talkin about.

2. the caroon saga.
ugh. so like five weeks ago or so we realized we had something living in the wall right under where the breezeway connects to the house. we've left our garage open for the last year since tallulah moved outside (cause she's an inside pee-er-all-over-er), and in the last few months a raccoon (or a caroon in luci speak...although today she kept calling it a kangaroo) decided a wall in our house would be an excellent place to live. and if i were a wild animal i'd probably agree. we had a trapper man come & set two traps...baited with honeybuns. the caroon was too smart & said no thank you. trapper man said it was probably a smart young male & we were lucky it wasn't a mama with babies. we thought (s)he was gone.

till a tuesday. we heard a ruckus, and sure enough (s)he was back. and we decided it was in fact a she...now a mama with babies. NOT.SO.AWESOME. after some googling we decided to try applying a concoction of chili powder, cayenne pepper & hot sesame oil. clay quickly realized that it wouldn't really work because we couldn't get to where mama + babies were, and if we sprayed it at their entrance he'd be spraying all of the electrical wiring of our house. but the clever man did think of drilling a hole in the wall above where the caroons were and blowing in chili powder & cayenne pepper with a straw. and it worked. immediately we heard mama rustle her way out of the wall. two hours or so later i saw mama leave with a baby in her mouth. we thought that meant success, that she'd surely come back for the other babes. and we thought she had. till today. when i heard babies at lunch. OH NO. so i promptly called mr. trapper man back. he came this afternoon & cut them out of the wall. apparently she was a young mama and he didn't think she'd be coming back for the other two. there has been no sign of her since tuesday when i saw her take a babe away in her mouth. i had read that if you put the live babies in a trap the mama will go in every.time. so i thought he'd do that. but sweet coon peas were too little to leave in a trap...only 7-10 days old. they'd be too cold. so he was going to take them to a rehabber who will raise him them until they are old enough to be released into the wild.




see the orb below? that's the orb that was here, watchin to see if i respected another mama's babies. yes God/universe/whatever you happen to believe...i respect life. no baby bloodshed in this house thankyouverymuch. this is a place of love & life. just preferrably not wild-life.

now we just have a bit of drywall repair to take care of....

k...i know you are all riveted by the details of our life, but i really need to work now ;)